Known for their pearl-covered suits, the Pearlies are an iconic London cockney tradition.
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00:00Meet London's other royal family.
00:07Steeped in tradition, instantly recognisable, they're the pearly kings and queens.
00:14This is their biggest day of the year.
00:16The Harvest Festival is a chance to belt out some old London classics and showcase generations
00:22of pearly culture.
00:27There are people who don't even realise the pearlies still exist and then they find a
00:30whole clutter of us here and they're absolutely over the moon at realising it.
00:34The pearlies are icons of working class London, first donning the elaborate suits in the 19th
00:40century to raise money for the poor.
00:43Pearlies today still dedicate themselves to collecting for local charities, attracting
00:48attention and donations with their custom mother of pearl designs.
00:53The pearlies each represent areas of London and, like the real royal family, titles can
00:59be inherited.
01:00It's been a family tradition.
01:01Like Sue and her granddaughter Emily, who's a fifth generation pearly.
01:06This is a picture of my grandma and she's wearing the jacket that I've got on today.
01:11Others with a long record of charity work, like Clive, have been invited to join.
01:16He now champions pearly culture, like the old London dialect Cockney rhyming slang.
01:22People say it's a secret language, you know, a slang secret language, to mystify the police
01:27if they was around after you, but there's a lot of stories.
01:30It's just a fun language.
01:31On the cane and able, which is a table, you'll plainly see a couple of Jack the Rippers,
01:35which are kippers, and a couple of Rosie Lee, which is tea.
01:38And, of course, playing the spoons.
01:48Back at the Harvest Festival, the pearlies are racking up more donations, as they mark
01:54another successful year of fundraising around London.
01:58The best thing to see is that there are young people who are getting dressed up and continuing
02:04with the tradition, because otherwise all of these old customs and the songs and everything
02:10we've heard today are going to disappear, and that would just be such a shame.
02:18Pearly numbers have dwindled.
02:19There were once hundreds across London.
02:22Now it's dozens.
02:23It's part of my heritage as a London boy, a Cockney boy, if you like.
02:29It's sort of like iconic as a London bus, a London taxi, the London police officer,
02:34the pearly kings and queens, you know.
02:37And that's the heritage that we've got to maintain, otherwise we're going to lose it.
02:44The future of the pearlies rests with the younger members, like new recruit Evie, who's
02:49starting a two-year apprenticeship to become a queen.
02:54She's documenting her training on social media, hoping to bring the pearlies to a new audience.
03:01It would be absolutely heartbroken if the pearlies just kind of became extinct, really.
03:06I think the pearlies will carry on going as they are, but there is a bit of modernisation,
03:10you know, the Instagram and social media and stuff, but it still stays true to the
03:14culture and the roots and traditions.
03:24The pearlies are guardians of a cherished cultural legacy, a legacy they're determined
03:29to preserve.